


let me feel your heartbeat (grow faster, faster)

by MomoYoMaki



Series: gently play on your heart strings [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: And Rin, Fix-It, Hatake Kakashi is a Troll, Kakashi did too, M/M, Obito deserved better, Obito needs a Hug, Time Travel, Yet Another Kakashi Time Travel AU, and he gets one, but who doesn't love those, heck everybody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 03:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17737832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MomoYoMaki/pseuds/MomoYoMaki
Summary: It's the middle of the night when he comes for him.(It's been four days since Kakashi's disappearance.)





	let me feel your heartbeat (grow faster, faster)

**Author's Note:**

> Apparently it's Obito's birthday and I almost missed it! Thank god for my friend Liz, who proof read this in like, an hour, and is the only reason I'm managing to post it while it's technically still the 10th.  
> Title from Queen's Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy. (Because that's what I was listening to when inspiration struck, even though it doesn't fit the tone, at all.)

It's the middle of the night when he comes for him. Obito doesn't know why that part sticks with him, because the time of day hardly matters underground. It's always dim and dark, damp and ugly.

Obito's not sleeping, despite the exhaustion pulling at his body, the exhaustion always pulling at him like the new pieces of his body are leaching off his energy as they merge with the rest of him. Or it could just be the terror. Obito feels it in his veins constantly like the hum of a distant machine. Madara has helped him, healed him, and the Zetsu seem cheerfully invested in his recovery. But he can't leave, and _that_ scares him.

The sound of a crack, like stone breaking, is quiet but out of place and Obito snaps his eyes open, turning to pick out Guruguru in the dark and further on Madara's hunched figure on the other side of the cave, Obito's sharingan lighting up the darkness clearly.

Guruguru is on his feet even as Obito turns his head, but the crack is a prelude to a cacophony as the far side of the cave disintegrates into dust with a sound like thunder.

"Intruder-" Guruguru shrieks and darts forward. No one can escape Guruguru when they are directly in front of him like that, only...the gaping hole in the cavern wall is empty of anyone.

Behind the Zetsu the sound of a thousand frantic birds fills the air and light flashes around the cave too disorienting to see by as Guruguru screams.

Kakashi appears like a ghost out of thin air, slamming his hand right through Guruguru and keeps going, lightning crackling over Madara's form an instant before Kakashi grabs him by the hair and yanks him away from the statue, one foot snapping down on the connection between the two.

In a breath Obito's captives are dead on the floor.

Obito freezes where he's half off the bed and stares in uncomprehending shock as Kakashi shakes the remains of Guruguru off his arm and turns. He's covered in dirt, white ochre, and blood, Obito's eye flaming bright red in counterpoint to his own.

Kakashi doesn't have any such problems crossing the distance between them, almost too quick to follow even with Obito's sharingan activated. Kakashi's got his hands on Obito's face before he can even flinch, and his eyes flick over him, taking in everything from his alien arm to his scars and settling unflinchingly on his eye.

And he smiles, clear as day even through the mask. "Yo, Obito."

Obito has to swallow hard before he can speak. " _Kakashi_ , how- how did you find-"

"Ah, hang on a moment." Kakashi tells him calmly and pulls him foward off the bed with a sharp tug, his sharingan, _Obito's_ sharingan, spinning wildly.

There's a snarl from behind him and Obito turns just quick enough to see a black form sliding out of the rock in the way he's seen countless Zetsu do before it's gone in a whirl of chakra.

"That's better." Kakashi says with a sort of deadly cheer Obito's never heard from him before.

He helps Obito straighten with careful hands, gentle of his right arm. (But not shying away.)

“What- what did you do?” Obito stammers, and he can’t quite tear his eyes away from the spot where the creature had vanished.

Kakashi hums. “Sent him somewhere else. What do you say to getting out of here?”

Obito refocuses with effort on the boy in front of him, on _Kakashi_ , who’s _here,_ like he’s been summoned from Obito’s desperate dreams. “I can’t walk far. Where’s Rin? Minato-sensei?”

“Waiting in Konoha.” Kakashi assures him, and with his sharingan still out and fixed on him he looks almost unnerving, and he continues without hesitation. “I’ll carry you back.”

Obito opens his mouth and closes it abruptly again when his throat sticks. It’s too much suddenly, and Obito realizes he must be in shock when tears sting at his eye.

“Kakashi...” He chokes out, but he doesn’t know what he wants to say.

 _Thank you. You came for me, thank you_.

Kakashi must read something of it on his face because he reaches out and wraps Obito up in his arms as the first tears fall.

A hug. Kakashi is hugging him, and it’s a little awkward because he’s shorter, but somehow Kakashi still manages to get Obito’s head under his chin. It’s been so long since anybody touched him and he hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it even as infrequently as he’d had it before.

"I'm sorry it took me so long." Kakashi whispers and Obito wants to laugh because that doesn't even make any sense, Obito was _dead,_ Kakashi couldn’t have known.

Instead he curls his fingers into the back of Kakashi's shirt, the real ones and the new as weak as they are, and holds on.

  


It's been four days since Kakashi's disappearance and if Minato was worried before he's sick with it now. In three more days Kakashi will be declared a missing nin, whether or not he abandoned the village. During war they have no luxury of time, must assume guilty unless proven innocent and even a week is generous of the Hokage, and Minato knows this, was the one to plead with Sarutobi, but still. _Still_. They never found evidence of Kakashi leaving under anything but his own power and that's damning enough, even if Minato knows without a sliver of doubt that Kakashi would never betray his village. Rin had seen him last, in the market. She hadn't noticed anything wrong, even if him going out of his way to interact with her outside of training was a relatively rare occurance. And then he'd been gone. No one had seen him go and when Minato checked his apartment nothing had seemed out of place. Except for Minato's gift, the hiraishin seal clearly marked and mocking on the hilt, sitting in the middle of the table. He doesn't want to know why Kakashi left it behind, doesn't want to think it was on purpose to keep from being followed.

It's luck that has Minato in Sarutobi's office when the messenger pops in. One of the gate guard, and the chuunin barely has to say "Hatake is at the gates-" before Minato is darting past him.

He has a hiraishin seal marked at each corner of the village and it's the matter of a thought to jump to the one nearest the gate and then shunshin  the rest of the way.

To their credit the other chuunin on guard don't flinch at his arrival, just nod. But they don't loosen their cautious stances.

"Ah, Minato-sensei." Kakashi says, and he's filthy like he's been fighting, blood liberally coating his clothes. He's got one arm slung around another boy, shaggy haired and pale, and Minato freezes. "So it turns out Obito's not dead."

  


(He'd gone looking for a body. Minato had known the boy had been wrecked with guilt, had fallen so deep into self loathing they could barely pull him out, but evidently their efforts hadn't been enough. He'd gone alone to bring a body home and had found Obito alive instead.)

  


When Obito wakes up the light is so dim he almost forgets he left the cave. But the dimness is from predawn and growing stronger with every passing breath that Obito spends staring at the white ceiling and trying to get his bearings. It smells like the hospital, a medical sort of tang he'd thought he hated before that precise moment. Now it relaxes some knot inside him, because it means he's _home_.

When he's managed to swallow around the lump in his throat he turns his attention to the rest of the room. Under the window, tilted so his book catches what little light there is, Kakashi sits perched on a hard backed chair. He's not reading, not anymore anyway, his one visible eye fixed intently on Obito.

Obito opens his mouth to speak and Kakashi lifts a finger to shush him, pointing down the bed. It takes more effort to follow the direction than Obito was expecting, his body stiff as if he's been asleep for a lot longer then he thought.

Rin is curled up in another chair at the foot of the bed, her head pillowed by her arms on the mattress and Obito's breath catches.

"She was determined to be here when you woke up." Kakashi whispers. "Minato-sensei is dealing with your clan head right now, but he'll be back."

Somehow it feels just as much like punch to the gut as Kakashi's appearance in the cave. His team is here. They missed him. Rin spent the night sleeping in a chair just to see him when he woke up.

Obito grinds his teeth to keep the tears back and fists his hands in the sheets, ignoring the painful pull of muscles in his right hand. "What happened? How long was I out?"

Kakashi eyes him for a moment longer before shifting forward, hooking one ankle around a leg of his chair and dragging it closer to the bed. He gently pries the fingers of Obito's right hand away from the sheets and replaces them with his own hand.

"Ah well," he says casually, lifting his book back up as if he hasn't notice what his hand is doing, "you've been out for nearly five days. There was a seal on your heart, and Jirayia needed to hunt Tsunade down to help with that."

A distant part of Obito's mind notes that this revelation made a prime distraction from Kakashi's uncharacteristic behavior.

"On my _heart?"_ Obito echoes.

"Mhmm, Jirayia is still studying it. Nobody's quite sure what it was supposed to do."

Obito has to swallow hard against the nausea that rises. He's never considered what Madara had wanted, not really, but now the implications leave him cold. Why save him at all? Why trap him? Why place a seal on his heart? For his sharingan?

A gentle squeeze to his hand brings him out of his spiraling thoughts to focus on Kakashi again and his steady gaze.

"Don't worry about it right now, Obito. The man is dead, the seal is gone, and you're safe. You can rest."

It's easier than Obito had expected to close his eyes and follow the advice.

  


Obito isn't released from the hospital for another week, less because of the work Tsunade had to perform on his heart and more because the Hokage thought it kinder then locking him up in a cell somewhere until they'd finished rifling through his brain to determine there were no other surprises like the curse seal waiting. If Obito never has to look a Yamanaka in the eye again he will die happy.

"How are you feeling, is your eye alright? Your arm?" Rin demands as soon as he steps into the hall of the hospital. She's been hovering all week, her expression fluctuating wildly between delight and sadness every time she looks at him. She only left when she was kicked out by the Yamanakas and then darted back into the room the minute they finished the session. Minato is not much better, only that he can swing his stubbornness around enough to stay in the room for the questioning. Obito has never been the centre of attention like this before and he's not sure what to think of it.

"I'm fine, Rin, I promise." He assures his teammate quickly. He'd really rather not have to wait any longer to leave the hospital now that he's been discharged. Sure, it's been a reassuring change from the cave, but that doesn't mean he wants to stay here any longer then he has to.

Rin chews her lip but nods. "Okay. But you tell me immediately if anything feels off!"

Minato chuckles and quickly steps in between them to usher them along. "I'm sure Obito's already had to swear as much to half the medics on staff here."

Rin winces. "Sorry, Obito."

Obito tries to smile, but somehow he can't stop imagining the way it must be pulling at his scars every time he does. "It's fine."

"Let's just get you home, hm? You must be more then ready for a little peace and quiet." Minato suggests as they duck around a pair of medics hurrying through the doors and out on to the street.

"Yeah..uh that wouldn't be the worst." Obito agrees distractedly.

It hasn't been that long really, in the grand scheme of things but... Obito has missed being outside. Has missed it more then he's let himself think about, has missed being outside in _Konoha_ with its streets crowded with people.

 _God_ , he really is a crybaby if he's tearing up again over nothing.

With effort he reigns in the emotions and followes Minato and Rin into the streets. He pretends not to notice the way they both flank him as if they think brushing elbows with a civilian is enough to make him fall apart. He should never have mentioned the fact that his new right arm likes to collapse at random. It feels a bit like coddling, but that isn't so bad. After months of isolation, he'll take any opportunity he can to be near his team.

Which brings him back to the question he's been putting off asking all week.

"Minato-sensei, where uh, where's Kakashi?"

He hasn't asked because he hasn't wanted to hear the answer. Kakashi has been absent all week, hasn't stopped by even once after that first night and while that isn't a surprise really, is in fact in line with everything Obito's previous experience tells him about the boy, it still... Well, Obito had _hoped,_ is all.

"Ah, I was wondering when you'd ask." Minato chuckles, but it sounds a little forced and Obito doesn't miss the glance he exchanges with Rin. "He's just finishing up with T&I."

Obito stops walking. " _T &I _?"

Rin takes his arm and gently pulls him forward again. "He just has to give a bit more of a...thorough report then usual."

"Why?"

Minato sighs. "Obito, when Kakashi left to find you he didn't have permission. And for a jounin to leave in the middle of a war... It doesn't look very good. Procedure mandates T&I handle his...report of events."

"You mean they're interrogating him." Obito says numbly.

The lines around Minato's mouth tighten. "I've been assured they are treating the situation as delicately as possible."

Obito isn't naive enough to believe that means anything when it comes to the security of the village.

"But he's not a security threat! How is saving me a bad thing?"

"No one is saying it was." Minato says firmly. "But for him to locate you so far from the cave in and with the...creatures guarding you, is beyond what he should feasibly have managed in such a short amount of time."

Obito clenches his teeth, but can't deny it.

"How long have they been holding him?"

Minato hesitates and Rin's grip tightens on his arm. It's not hard for Obito to take a guess.

"He's been there all week?!" He hisses.

To their credit, Rin and Minato don't look any happier about it then he is.

"If he's not released within the next day I plan on going to the Hokage." Minato says calmly as they approach Obito's apartment. "I know none of us are happy about the situation, but there is not much we can do right now."

The worst part, Obito thinks as his team leaves him on his doorstep with promises to check on him soon, is that Minato is _right_ . Somehow Obito has never considered anybody in Konoha as anything close to a threat before, and they still _aren't_ now. Not really. But Kakashi is more loyal then any ten other jounin and the thought that they'd doubt him grates.

"Stupid, _idiot_ , Bakashi," Obito mutteres as he enteres his apartment. "You couldn't have been avoiding me, you had to be in interrogation this whole time?"

The apartment has no response for him, and looking around, Obito feels more lost then he has since Kakashi pulled him from the cave. He ignores it for the moment, making a beeline for the bathroom and the mirror there. In the cave Kakashi had used the sharingan, as smoothly has if he'd been training with it his entire life. That alone isn't odd, Kakashi is a _genius_ after all and Obito has witnessed this first hand on more then one occasion. However, the shape of the pupil had been completely different from what he remembered.

Taking care not to look at anything but his eye in the mirror, (he's not ready to see the scars, he's just not,) Obito activates his sharingan. He doesn't know if he's surprised or not when it reflects back an identical image to Kakashi's.

Suddenly the bathroom feels too small, too confined. He stumbles hurriedly out of the bathroom and heads for one of the windows, hands shaking where a moment ago they'd been steady. He fumbles the latch twice before he gets it unlocked and throws it open.

And almost hits Kakashi right in the face.

Kakashi gives a rather undignified yelp as he throws himself out of the way and clear off the windowsill, his feet and chakra the only things keeping him vaguely vertical.

"Kakashi!" Obito squawks just as loudly and reaches for him belatedly.

"What a rude way to welcome guests." Kakashi complains and takes Obito's hand, allowing him to haul him through the window.

"What are you doing here? Minato-sensei said T&I- Wait, you're not hurt are you?"

Kakashi waves him off without an ounce of concern. "Maa, their hospitality really isn't _that_ bad."

" _Then why are you bleeding!"_

"Ah?" Kakashi dabs at his own cheek and the trail of blood there as if surprised. "Oh, no this is from a teeny tiny problem I had to take care of, no worries." As if to prove a point he extends his fingers so Obito can see the blood.

"That's not- Kakashi is that from your _eye_?" Obito breathes in horror and he reaches for Kakashi's hitai-ate without thinking to ask for permission.

Kakashi goes perfectly still and doesn't protest when Obito carefully draws it up, revealing the trail of blood pooling under his eye like a swipe of macabre makeup. The sharingan is back to the innocuous state it had started out in, but Obito can't decide if he finds that comforting or not. He gently brings one finger to the corner to brush at the blood and finds it dry.

"What did you do?" He murmurs.

"I..." Kakashi clears his throat, but he still doesn't move away. "I couldn't leave that ugly guy kicking around your dimension. I didn't have enough chakra left when I found you, but I've sent him further now."

Obito stops inspecting Kakashi's eye to lean back and look at him properly. "You mean that black Zetus thing? You sent it to another _dimension_?"

"Yes? That's your sharingan's manifestation."

"My sharingan can send people to _other dimensions?"_ Obito repeats incredulously.

"With a little work." Kakashi agrees and extracts himself from Obito's grasp while he gapes. "You can go ahead and experimt with it now if you like. Ah, did anybody shop for you while you were in the hospital?"

Obito blinks after Kakashi as he swans away to the kitchen and starts snooping through cupboards Obito hasn't even checked yet. He follows automatically and catches the cup ramen Kakashi throws at his head when he rounds the corner.

"Hey!" He splutters indignantly.

"Do you want it back?"

Obito looks up from the styrofoam cup in confusion. "The..ramen?"

Kakashi has his hitai-ate pulled back down, but his gaze is no less intense for being halved. "Your eye."

Obito's breath catches and he has to swallow hard. Does he? Two eyes are always more powerful then one, just as Madara had said, but asking for his left eye back has never crossed his mind.

"No." He says honestly. "It's yours."

When Kakashi doesn't so much as blink he continues awkwardly. "Besides, this way we can come up with all sorts of new jutsu together right? No one will know what's hit them!"

"You're amazing." Kakashi says, some emotion playing across what Obito can see of his face that he can't name, something earnest and too deep to contemplate.

Obito can _feel_ the blood rush to his face and it has to look terrible with the scars. "I- what?!"

Kakashi...laughs. Carefree and real, and nothing Obito has ever heard from him before. He plucks the ramen from Obito's grasp and sets it aside so he can spin Obito by the shoulders and shove him towards the door.

"Come on." He says sunnily. "Kushina must have done your shopping and all she eats is ramen. Let's get take out."

  


Minato frets the entire time Obito is alone in his apartment and Kushina's eye rolls are for once unable to affect him. He needs to give his student space, he knows that intellectually, but god all he wants to do is wrap the boy in a blanket and never let him out of his sight again. It's bad enough that he can't do anything for Kakashi.

So while he has all the right intentions, he still finds himself outside Obito's apartment only a few hours after he left him at his door. He isn't expecting to find Kakashi there when he lets himself in quietly, in deference to the late hour and fully expecting to find Obito already asleep. The tiny jounin barely shifts his head to look at Minato when he enters the room, carefully holding the rest of his body still, one hand propping a book on the arm of the couch. Obito is curled up beside him, more on Kakashi then not, head ducked down at an awkward angle to rest against his smaller teammate's shoulder. He's fast asleep.

It's not a sight Minato would have even dreamed of seeing only a handful of months ago. Then again, he never thought he'd see Kakashi in interrogation for going against regulations or ever thought the boy would search out Uchiha Obitio the moment he was released, as he clearly has.

But that was before Obito's death.

Minato smiles, gives his student a little wave, and sees himself out again. Knowing Obito isn't alone is all he needs right now.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Head over to the series page and subscribe, if you're interested in reading part two when I finish cranking it out.  
> You can find me on tumblr under momoyomaki.


End file.
